


author in progress

by cametha



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, F/F, karas an author, lenas a muse, mon el sucks as always
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-17
Updated: 2017-08-01
Packaged: 2018-12-03 06:46:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,204
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11526759
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cametha/pseuds/cametha
Summary: Kara Danvers has released one book, and it ended up a bestseller. The problem is she has no clue what to write next. When Lena Luthor walks into her book signing, Kara finds the inspiration she thought was lost forever.





	1. almost everything very fast

Kara Danvers had thought the hardest part was putting the words on paper. Then she’d thought the hardest part was getting rejection after rejection. It turns out, the hardest part comes after you’ve made it. After one bestseller and god knows how many copies sold, the hardest part is “what next”? It’s in the articles speculating she may be a one hit wonder, or saying her success is a fluke. The hardest part is living up to the hype, especially when you have no clue how you’re going to do it.

 

Kara leaned against a wall outside of Green Apple Books, a hole in the wall kind of place in National City. She stared up at the clouds as if one of them could tell her what to say, how to feel. It had been months since the release and subsequent success of her first book _A Question of Miracles_ , one of your classic stories about being young in a big city. She’d be lying if she said she hadn’t thrown her own personality into the main character Olive. She’d been young and single in National City, not looking to change that much.

 

Still, it was at the release party she met Mike, another writer. Kara had always found his writing to mediocre. Mike was a good example of a man thinking he’s the savior of writing when his style wasn’t unique and neither was his plot. Kara was polite and talked to him at her party, but then the rumors started to swirl and suddenly the publishers wanted them getting lunch together, and being seen together, and eventually they decided it would be easier if they really were together. The publicity stunt became a real relationship, and Kara was still having trouble separating how she felt from how they told her to feel.

 

Kara was startled by the touch of a hand on her wrist. She whipped around and saw her sister, Alex.

 

“You scared me,” Kara said, holding a hand to her chest.

 

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to,” Alex said, “But are you going to go in there? You’re supposed to be signing in a couple minutes.”

 

“Yeah, sorry,” Kara said, “I was just thinking about the next one.”

 

“The next one?” Alex asked excitedly; it was like her sister was always her biggest fan. Alex’s eyes fell to the notepad Kara held at her side, just in case she’d actually gotten some miniscule idea out here. Even a bad idea would be better than what she had now. “Were you writing down a plot, can I see?” Alex asked, reaching for the pad. Kara quickly pulled it away, holding it protectively against her chest.

 

“It’s not ready yet,” she said quickly.

 

“Oh, yeah. Alright,” Alex said, sounding slightly disappointed that she was being kept away from Kara’s extensive ideas. In reality, Kara just didn’t want her sister to see that the notepad was still totally blank.

 

“Let’s go in, okay?” Kara asked, tucking her pen behind her ear and starting toward the door.

 

“Hey, Kara?” she stopped and turned when she heard Alex behind her, “Are you okay?”

 

Kara smiled her biggest, most camera-friendly smile, “Just peachy.”

 

The girls made their way into the bookstore and Kara heard her editorial director Ms. Grant introducing her. Kara took a deep breath and turned to Alex, she wasn’t ready to dodge pretty much every question tossed her way.

 

“Here goes nothing?” Kara said, but it came out more like a question.

 

“You’ve got this,” Alex said, turning her and giving her a little push on her way up to the podium Green Apple Books had set up for this event. She scanned the crowd nervously, clearing her throat.

 

“Uh, hi everyone,” she said with as much confidence as she could muster, “I’m Kara Danvers and I’m here to answer your questions.” Hands in the audience went up immediately. Kara pointed at a friendly looking woman in the crowd, hoping for an easy question. “Yeah, in the blue shirt.”

 

The woman stood up with a giant smile on her face. “Is Mike Matthews here with you today?” she asked. Great. One of those.

 

“No, he’s at home working on his next novel,” Kara said, trying her best to leave it vague. Mike said he couldn’t come because he was working on his book, but odds are Kara would go home and call him to find he’d been playing video games all day.

 

“Can you tell us anything about that?” the woman asked excitedly. Wasn’t this event about Kara and her work?

 

“No, that’s a question for Mike. Who’s next?” she asked, as politely as she could. This time she called on a teen girl in the back row, who seemed giddy with excitement when she stood up to ask her question.

 

“What are you planning next?” the girl asked, voicing the one question plaguing Kara for months. What in the world was next? Kara froze for a second, but then out of the corner of her eye she saw a woman slip into the crowd, late and trying to go unnoticed. She had her head bowed ducking in, so Kara could only see her long black hair. Once she sat, the girl turned her head up to look at Kara and she stopped, stunned by ethereal green eyes and piercing red lips.

 

“Kara!” she heard an urgent hissing from beside her. She turned and saw Alex whisper yelling at her from the side. Shit, she forgot she had to answer the question.

 

“Sorry, sorry,” she said, bringing her normal smile back as opposed to her fish-like expression looking at the girl in the crowd. “I’m not ready to reveal what my next work will be about, but keep an eye out for an announcement on my website.”

 

Kara coasted through the rest of the questions once they began to focus on _A Question of Miracles_ , it was one of her favorite things to talk about. That said, she couldn’t help her glance from returning to the girl in the audience, feeling her breath catch every time she looked at those green eyes.

 

After questions had been either answered or dodged, Kara took a seat a table. A pen in her hand and a pile of books to her left, the signing portion of the event began. The faces and names started to blur together after a few fans, until the girl reached the front of the line. Kara stopped glancing down at the next book and just stared for a minute.

 

“Hi,” she finally said lamely.

 

“Oh, hi!” the girl said, as if she hadn’t realized neither of them had been speaking. “Can you make it out to Lena Luthor?” she asked, almost shyly. The name sounded familiar to Kara, but she couldn’t place it. She was almost sure she’d never met this girl before because she definitely would remember, wouldn’t she?

 

“Do I know you?” Kara eventually asked.

 

“No, we’ve never met,” Lena said, almost too quickly.

 

“Sorry, I’ll just sign,” Kara said, looking down at  the book again. She felt like she’d made a complete fool of herself already.

 

_Lena Luthor,_

_You could be someone’s muse._

_Kara Danvers_

 

Kara slid the signed book over the table to Lena. Lena bit her lip like there was more she wanted to say, but instead she just choked out a quick “thank you” and grabbed the book off the table. Kara watched her walk away before snapping her attention back to the next reader, but there was something about Lena Luthor that just wouldn’t leave her mind.


	2. the sky is everywhere

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara and Lena meet again at a speech Lena's giving at the National City Science Museum. Kara is inspired, and they make gay fools of themselves.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All the comments and messages on my tumblr are so sweet and they all mean so much to me, so I just want to say thank you guys SO much! I'm glad everyone is liking it!

The moment Kara got home, her mind went right into bad day autopilot. She took off her heels and buried herself in the blankets on her couch. She called the Chinese place down the street, not Mike, extra potstickers. The last step was to turn on the TV and ignore all her problems.

 

_ A girl road tripping across America to find herself _ . No way. Her last book was already so coming-of-age, Kara couldn't write another.  _ A vampire- _ no, no. Stop right there.  _ A girl with powers meets a boy with powers from a planet her people hated because they treated people poorly- _ ugh, no. Who would ever read that?

 

Apparently the only thing capable of holding Kara’s attention for more than ten seconds right now was the green eyed girl from the signing, Lena. Kara fished her phone out of the blanket pile and googled the girl’s name. There were millions of results, but up top it read  _ Lena Luthor, L-Corp CEO _ . Kara clicked on the first link, a Wikipedia page. Smiling back at her were the same stunning eyes and devastating lips from her signing. No wonder she recognized this girl, she was famous. 

 

Someone like Lena was a fan of hers? Why wouldn’t she just send an assistant or someone to get the book signed for her? The Luthors were all wealthy and successful, they could be the single most intimidating family ever. Kara went back to click the next link, Lena’s Twitter. Kara’s finger hovered over the button to post a new tweet. This could be a cool casual way to contact Lena, right?

 

_ @LenaLuthor Thank you for coming today, it was great to meet you :) _

 

Kara hit send before she could let herself get caught up thinking about it. Within seconds, she was considering texting her agent that she shouldn’t run her own Twitter anymore, but before she spiraled too far her phone let out a small buzz.

 

_@KaraWrites_ _It was an honor to meet you._

 

Kara bit her lip to keep from smiling like an idiot. Maybe someone else ran Lena’s twitter, but that thought barely passed her mind as she scrolled through the girl’s recent tweets. Eventually Kara came across one talking about an event for the National City Science Museum and promoting the speech Lena was giving tonight. It’d be crazy to go, right? Right? Who cares, Kara was going even if it was completely insane.

 

First, she had to call Mike to cancel their dinner tonight. The phone rang and rang until Kara was sure she was being sent to voicemail. She was just about to hang up when the call connected, answered with a barely muffled snicker and a whisper to someone in the background. Brad was at his house, which meant he clearly hadn’t been working on his book all day like he said he was.

 

“Hey!” Mike said on the other end of the phone.

 

“Hey,” Kara started, “About dinner tonight-”

 

“Oh shit, babe,” he said, “I was totally about to call you, I can’t make it.” Of course.

 

“Oh yeah, it’s okay,” she said, “I’ll just see you soon.”

 

“Yeah, sure see you soon,” he said quickly.

 

“Tell Brad I say hi,” Kara tried to add, but by the end of it she was already speaking to the empty air of a disconnected call.

 

After whatever that was, it was time to text Alex.

 

_ Kara (03:32 pm): hey, you free tonight? _

 

_ Kara (03:39 pm): alexxxxxx _

 

_ Alex (03:41 pm): Sorry! _

 

_ Alex (03:41 pm): I’m free tonight, potstickers and netflix? _

 

_ Kara (03:42 pm): potstickers are already here after a signing like that _

 

_ Kara (03:42 pm): want to go to the science museum? theyre giving a series of speeches on girls in tech _

 

_ Alex (03:44): Sure, why do you want to go? _

 

_ Kara (03:44): im interested in tech _

 

_ Alex (03:44): No you aren’t _

 

_ Kara (03:45): after the speeches i could be _

 

_ Kara (03:45): just meet me at the museum at 4:45 okay _

 

_ Alex (03:45): I’ll be there _

 

At the museum, a banner swung overhead listing the names of speakers. Kara was searching for Lena’s name when Alex came up to her.

 

“Who are we seeing speak?” Alex asked.

 

“Lena Luthor,” Kara replied, trying to sound casual.

 

“From L-corp?” Aex asked and Kara whipped her head around to face her.

 

“You know who Lena Luthor is?” Kara asked.

 

“Yeah,” Alex replied, “I was surprised she was at the signing too. That’s why you froze, right? She’s big news.”

 

“Oh, yeah that’s why I froze,” Kara replied with a nervous laugh. She really was the worst at lying. If she hadn’t been nervous before, she was now. Lena was as big of a deal as Kara had thought and that terrified her. The line they were in meandered into the room where Lena would speak, with Kara and Alex standing near the back of the room. When Lena walked into the room there was an uproar of applause. Kara saw girls as young as six standing on their chairs to get a better look, making her smile. Lena Luthor was an inspiration. Lena reached the podium set up for her with a smile and leaned into the microphone.

 

“Hello, everyone,” Lena said as the applause settled, “I’m so honored to speak here today about the advancement of women in the tech industry.” As Lena started to speak, Kara found herself entrapped by the way Lena smiled too big, and threw her head back laughing every time she made a joke.

 

_ Havoc wreaking laughter and green eyes were the recipe for her destruction, and destruct she would to graze the back of her hand with her fingertips. _

 

Kara froze, just watching Lena Luthor had inspired her this much. She was mentally writing without even thinking about it. Kara had to snap back to reality with a nudge from Alex when she realized the surrounding group was applauding. She and Alex made their way outside the room, but lingered around the museum.

 

“Kara Danvers?” she heard a voice with a slight Irish lilt behind her. Kara turned quickly.

 

“Lena!” she said excitedly.

 

“I thought I saw you in there,” Lena replied, “you’re interested in science too?”

 

“It’s research for the next book,” Kara replied. Technically, it was.

 

“Who would’ve thought I’d get to meet my favorite author twice in a day,” Lena said grinning. She turned to Alex, her expression changing minutely. A crease formed between her eyebrows and her smile became more forced. “And this is?”

 

“Oh, I’m sorry!” Kara said with a nervous giggle, “This is my sister.”

 

Alex reached a hand out toward Lena, “Alex Danvers, pleasure to meet you.”

 

“Likewise,” Lena replied with all the tension gone from her face.

 

_ Tangled in the sound of her voice, like blankets on a cold morning. It was flashes of sun and daisies and lemonade everytime she opened her mouth. _

 

“I can’t stay long, I have to call some partners soon,” Lena said, but I couldn’t resist saying hi to you when I caught your eye in the crowd.”

 

“I’m just glad I got to see you again,” Kara barely choked out. Alex cleared her throat next to them, giving Kara a look.

 

“Uh, uh,” Kara stammered. For someone who writes for a living, she was suddenly unable to find her words.

 

“We’ll see you soon,” Alex said, covering for her. Lena handed Kara a small white card with her name across the top in silver lettering. A business card.

 

“I hope I can see you again,” she said, biting her lip.

 

“I hope so too,” Kara said with a nervous smile. Lena turned around to leave and Kara tried desperately to ignore Alex as they walked to the exit.

 

“Kara,” Alex said.

 

“Alex,” Kara replied, mocking her.

 

“What was that?” Alex asked her.

 

“What was what?” she replied, acting clueless.

 

“You know what I’m talking about,” Alex said, exasperated.

 

“That was me star struck meeting a celebrity!” Kara insisted. Alex made some noncommittal sound agreement that showed she didn’t believe her sister.

 

“I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?” Kara asked, trying to escape this conversation.

 

“Okay, I’ll see you you,” Alex replied.

 

Kara made her way home, settling down at her desk and pulling out her computer. She quickly started to transcribe all the stray lines that were coming into her mind as she talked to Lena today. They were forming a story together, but she still had no clue what the story was. What she did know was that Lena was the key to finding it. She was wrong earlier, Lena wasn’t just someone’s muse, she was Kara’s muse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that's that, talk to me in the comments or at cametha.tumblr.com and I hope you had fun reading it!


	3. into the water

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Our girls meet again: coffee shop edition.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone, sorry this update took so long. The SDCC stuff made it weird to write about for a while especially since my best friend irl and proofreader of this fic is Chloe Niccole from chloeniccole, sender of emails and queen of getting sued. Anyway, enjoy!

Kara laid in bed, the covers pulled tight around her, but she couldn’t sleep. She finally sat up, turning the light on in frustration. The light above her glinted off the embossed silver of the business card on the nightstand next to her bed. _LENA LUTHOR, C.E.O._ the card practically shouted. Kara picked the white paper up, tearing at the corners with her nails while she decided what to do. Is waiting a few days to text the precedent, or is that only for people you want to date?

 

S glanced at the clock, the red lights shining 12:05 back at her. That should answer it for her, it’s too late to text her anyway. The only person up was Mike, ready to send her the “You up?” text she got half an hour ago and ignored. Or maybe it’s better if she’s asleep. Before she could refute her own idea again, her fingers were flying across the keys.

 

_Kara (12:07): hey lena, its kara :)_

 

Immediately after hitting send, she felt like she had done something wrong. Oh god, so much for sleeping tonight. The smiley face was too much, way too much. Should she have used capitals and punctuation? Maybe she should’ve said something more, she was a writer for god’s sake. Now she had to wait all night for a response and her stomach was already so tangled she couldn’t even think about sleep. She was so caught up in her stress, she didn’t even notice her phone buzz until the second one. Kara dug around in her sheets until the light from the phone screen burned through the film of exhaustion over her eyes. She grabbed it and saw a text from an unsaved number, she hadn’t added Lena as a contact yet. She unlocked her phone, and it took her three tries to get her fingerprint right. Chalk that up to nerves.

 

_Lena (12:11): I was hoping you’d text_

 

Kara felt relief wash over her, a certain kind of hope tangling itself inside of her. _Hope threading through her heart like a gold string, tying veins to atriums to love._ Scribbling down the line on a notepad by her bed, Kara refocused on the conversation at hand.

 

_Kara (12:13): what are you doing up so late?_

 

_Lena (12:13): Well what are you doing up this late?_

 

Thinking about Mike. Tossing and turning. Thinking about this new book. Thinking about you. Thinking about disaster. Thinking about hope.

 

_Kara (12:14): i couldnt sleep_

 

_Lena (12:14): Me neither_

 

_Lena (12:14): So it’s not that odd, is it?_

 

_Kara (12:15): then im glad i texted you_

 

_Lena (12:16): I am too_

 

_Lena (12:16): I never got the chance to thank you for that autograph_

 

Oh god, Kara thought she would never see Lena Luthor again when she wrote that. Either way, now it was out there and in a way, Kara was glad it was.

 

_Kara (12:17): i meant it_

 

Maybe a laughing face could’ve made that more light hearted, but Kara wasn’t totally sure Lena was the emoji type. On the other hand, come on, who isn’t the emoji type?

 

_Kara (12:18): i knew i recognized you_

 

_Lena (12:19): I have my own moments, I didn’t need to upstage you at your own signing._

 

Kara’s couldn’t help drawing up a comparison to Mike, and the countless events of hers he’d used to promote his next book. The contrast was too stark to ignore.

 

_Kara (12:19): you made finding you a lot more difficult_

 

_Lena (12:20): So you were looking for me?_

 

_Kara (12:21): no no! it was a lucky coincidence you were there_

 

Lies, all lies.

 

_Lena (12:23): In that case I’m quite glad fate brought us together again_

 

_Kara (12:24): do you think it will again?_

 

_Lena (12:24): Do you want it to?_

 

What kind of question is that? Kara wanted to see this girl again, to figure out the story Lena was writing through her. She had a small notebook she scribbled the lines down in, but she had no clue where the story would end. She just knew it started here, two girls in orbit.

 

_Kara (12:26): id love that_

 

_Lena (12:27): Are you free tomorrow around noon?_

 

_Kara (12:27): for you i can be_

 

Was that too much? Way too much. For sure.

 

_Lena (12:28): Meet me at Backyard Coffee?_

 

_Kara (12:28): ill be there_

 

_Lena (12:29): Goodnight Kara Danvers_

 

_Kara (12:30): goodnight lena luthor_

 

Kara could barely keep her eyes open at this point and let her phone fall to her side to be swallowed by the tangle of covers surrounding her. _An orbit of two equidistant planets swinging toward each other in hopes that maybe one day they may meet. No care that planetary collisions end in carnage for those who inhabit._ Kara scribbled the lines in a tired shorthand, letting herself drift to sleep lost in the thoughts of what this plot is and where it could go, but mostly, if she was prepared for it to go there.

 

When Kara woke up she spent ages looking for the phone lost to the bundle of sheets and various shirts strewn across her bed. Eventually she found it on the floor under her bed, having fallen in the middle of the night. The second she turned it on she felt panic course through her. 11:24 am. She had to meet Lena in half an hour and the shop was ten minutes away. She could not be late today. Kara rushed through the motions, tossing her favorite plaid shirt on and heading out the door to run all the way to Backyard Coffee. She made it there by 11:58, but when she glanced in through the glass door, Lena Luthor sat at a table in the center of the cafe. She had a mug in one hand and her phone in the other, nibbling on cherry red lipstick that didn’t come off with the abuse she put it through.

 

Kara took a deep breath, messing with her shirt and trying her best to put loose locks of hair back in her bun to no avail. When she finally stepped through the door, Lena’s eyes shot up immediately to see who was walking in, beaming when she saw it was Kara. Her green eyes shined bright and Kara felt herself smiling in return as she adjusted her glasses. She ordered her coffee quick and made her way over the the table, sitting opposite Lena.

 

“Hi,” she said simply.

 

“Hey,” Lena said quietly. The silence was swirling around them for a minute as they sipped their coffees, letting the conversations of others around them surround them, until Lena finally spoke. “I would’ve ordered for you, but I don’t know your drink,” she apologized.

 

“Don’t worry, I wouldn’t let you anyway,” Kara said laughing slightly, but leaving Lena looking confused. “I’m embarrassed by my order,” she tacked on as explanation.

 

“It can’t be that bad,” Lena said, the smile returning to her face. Kara moved the mug she held across the table until it sat next to Lena’s.

 

“Try it,” she offered. Lena looked at her suspiciously, quirking an eyebrow like she wanted to ask what it was first, but picked it up and took a sip. Kara tried not to be flattered by Lena’s blind trust. Immediately after, disgust contorted Lena’s normally composed expression.

 

“Does that even have coffee in it?” Lena asked, taking a large sip of her own drink to wash away the caramel-heavy taste she’d just had.

 

“It has plenty of caffeine,” Kara insisted, “and coffee tastes disgusting anyway,” she added to drive her point home.

 

“Kara Danvers, I knew there had to be something wrong with you,” Lena said with a smirk. _Coffee laced with caramel and lips laced with anticipation across a table covered with distance._ Lena rested her chin on her hand as she stared at Kara, waiting on a response she didn’t have.

 

“Uh,” Kara stammered, “Now you understand the embarrassment.” It took her ages to think of a lighthearted reply after getting hit with a line like that.

 

“Nothing to be embarrassed about, some of us are just stronger than others,” Lena said, gesturing with the purple mug in her hand. The light brown drink in her drink swirled around like the thoughts in her head.  Looking at Lena, things felt different to say the least. Kara realized she’d never clicked with anyone this way. It was like she was destined to be friends with this girl. Lena Luthor had a story inside of her, one that came out over cups of coffee or on nights too far below the stars. Kara wasn’t writing this story, it was all Lena’s and she was happy to transcribe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lena may seem smooth, but trust me, she's a disaster and Kara's an unreliable narrator. So that's that on that! As always, talk to me in the comments or at cametha.tumblr.com!

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading the author au no one asked for, see you next chapter!


End file.
